Chapter Ten

Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight or any of its characters. They all belong to Stephenie Meyer.



EPOV

I parked my car in the hospital parking lot and made my way inside. I was completely exhausted. I hadn't slept all that well at Emmett's last night. After Bella kicked me out, all I could do was replay the last few weeks and imagine all the possible times I could’ve told her about Tanya, should’ve told her about Tanya. I’d wanted to cover my own ass when all I really had done was make it that much harder on Bella. She, as well as my own father, believed I was having an affair with her. Hell, half the hospital probably believed it too.

I tried to explain the fact that I was not sleeping with Tanya to Bella and she seemed to understand. She just didn't fucking care. And I could see her point. I was spending time with another woman. A lot of time. But that didn't mean that I was cheating on my wife. There were plenty of people in this world that could be friends with people of the opposite sex and not be having an affair with them.

I walked into the emergency room entrance and said hello to a few of the nurses that were there. They began to whisper back and forth to each other once I started to walk away; I was beginning to get a little self conscious.

I stopped in the break room and fixed myself a cup of coffee. I felt someone staring at me and turned around to find that it was one of the interns here at the hospital.

"Rough night, Dr. Cullen?" He asked me. I laughed a little and nodded my head.

"Yeah, I guess you could say that," I answered him honestly. Sleeping on your brother's couch because your wife kicked you out could definitely count as a rough night in my book.

"Guess that blonde chick wore you out huh? She looks like she would be a spitfire in bed. Or wait, was it the wife?" he questioned. I turned around and saw the smirk plastered across his face.

"What the fuck are you talking about?" I asked him, rather loudly. I must have startled him because he stepped back a little.

"It's all over the hospital, man. You've been screwing around with that hot blonde that we've seen you leave with. Even seen her come out of your office the other day."

I thought back and tried to remember anytime that Tanya had actually been in my office. There was a time last week when I had a particularly bad day and I had called her and asked her to meet me here. Even thinking back now I realize what a stupid idea that was.

"Look, you've got it all wrong. We're friends, only friends. Nothing is going on between us," I told him, drinking from my cup. He laughed a bit when I said this and nodded his head.

"Yeah, sure I do. I've heard that one before. You come out of your office, shirt un-tucked; tie undone, clothes wrinkled and hair looking like you just fucked someone real damn good. Yeah, I'm sure I've got it all wrong."I groaned and tried to remember that day in closer detail. I had a case that day where a young girl coded on the table and I'd almost lost her. It hit me really hard. I remembered lying down on my couch and spilling everything to Tanya. She had massaged my shoulders which had probably resulted in the wrinkled clothes. The messed up hair was from me running my hands through it in frustration.

I tossed my cup into the trash and looked the intern dead in the eyes. I didn't need anymore damn rumors running rampant around this hospital.

"You've got it all wrong. Just keep your damn mouth shut about shit you know nothing about." I stepped away from him and slammed the break room door shut on my way out.

BPOV

I sat on the couch in the living room sipping my cup of coffee. Rose and Alice sat across from me, both staring at me, waiting for me to spill my guts. They had both come over bright and early this morning, knowing I had the day off. They wanted to know why Edward had stayed the night at Emmett and Rose's. Evidently, he had avoided the two of them last night when he arrived, not that I could blame him.

"So, you gonna spill or what?" Rose asked me, leaning back in the chair she sat in, getting completely comfortable for my story telling.

"I will in a minute Rose. I am still trying to wrap my head around the situation," I told her. And honestly, I was. After lying in bed last night, going over everything I had said, he had said, I was still confused. I still didn't understand why Edward felt the need to lie about talking to someone. It was hard to sit here and think about him spilling his guts to her and her helping him get through this. We had all begged him numerous times to see someone, and yes, that’s what he’s doing but he’s hiding it.

"Why don't you just start at the beginning, Bella," Alice said. I was a little nervous about telling Alice anything bad about her brother, but she said herself that she was here as my friend this morning, not as my sister in law.

"That's the thing, Alice . I really have no idea where the beginning even is," I leaned back into the couch and got comfortable. I knew I needed to talk to someone about this because I was pretty sure I was going to end up driving myself crazy trying to figure this all out on my own.

"So, you know I had been getting Edward to try and talk to someone about everything, you know, a therapist or something," I said, and they both nodded their heads in understanding, "well, he adamantly denied that he didn't need to talk to anyone so I just dropped it. Once I let that go, we had finally begun to talk to each other again. He'd come home and we would talk about our days at work and it was good. Really good."

"Well, I decided one afternoon, after he called and told me that he wouldn't be home for dinner, to fix him a plate and take it up to his office. So, I walk into the hospital, up to his floor and when I rounded the corner to go down the hall towards his office, I saw him and this woman. They were talking, hugging, touching. I sorta freaked out and ran out of there."

"Bella," Alice asked, "what do you mean touching?" I sighed and threw my head into my hands.

"Well, he touched her hands that were placed in her lap. Just casual touching I guess you would call it." She nodded her head and wanted me to continue.

"So, when he got home that night, I mentioned nothing about seeing him with her and he mentioned nothing of it to me. When he was in the shower the next morning, his phone buzzed and he had a text message, from her, I assumed. It mentioned something about meeting him later."

"That asshole," Rose muttered under her breath. I looked at her, a little shocked. But of course, Rose had never been one to hide her true feelings.

"Rose," I said, trying to stop her.

"What Bella?" Alice asked me, "She’s completely right. He’s behaving like an asshole. I can't even believe right now that he’s my brother. I swear to God, if that man was here right now..."

"Can I finish please, because honestly you haven't heard anything yet?" They looked at me, wide-eyed, shut their mouths and motioned for me to continue. If just that little bit of information got their blood boiling, what was the rest of the story going to do to them?

"So, the night after I found the text, he called again and said he would be late coming home. I got a little pissed and decided to go for a drive. Well, I ended up in front of the coffee shop by the hospital. And guess who I saw coming out of the hospital and walking over to the shop?" Both Rose and Alice 's eyes grew wide as I confirmed their suspicions.

"Yep, her and Edward. And get this; she was massaging his shoulders while they were talking! Anyways, after that, I rushed home and went straight to bed. Once he fell asleep, I snooped in his phone and found dozens of text messages between the two of them."

"What the hell is he thinking?" Alice asked me. I just shrugged my shoulders at her because honestly, I had no idea myself. I’d tried numerous times to make sense of his actions myself, but failed miserably.

"He isn't thinking. That's what his damn problem is. Or maybe he is thinking with the wrong part of his anatomy," Rose said.

"So, I came home from work a little early yesterday and decided to do a little more snooping on the computer this time. And I found out that the two of them had also been emailing each other. Needless to say, when he got home last night, I let his ass have it and told him to get the fuck out." I picked up my coffee and took a sip, preparing myself to be bombarded with all kinds of questions from these two.

"So, how long has he been fucking this whore? Does he even care what the hell he is doing to you?" Rose asked. I laughed a bit at her candidness.

"That's the thing Rose. He isn't fucking her. He just talks to her." They looked at me in shock, clearly not believing me.

"Talking my ass," Rose muttered under her breath. I laughed again.

"What do you mean Bella," Alice asked me.

"You see Alice , I actually believe him. Tanya and Edward just talk. They talk about Lizzie. Your brother talks to another woman about my child, our child. He felt the need to go to a complete stranger with his feelings instead of his own wife. And that, I have to say, hurts more than thinking he was fucking her."

The girls were silent for a moment. Alice to a deep breath then reached for my hands.

“Bella, please what I’m about to say is in no way condemning or condoning what my brother did but I’m trying to see both sides of it.” I swallowed and nodded my head.

“We’ve all been begging him to see someone. Every one of us has asked him over and over to go talk to someone about his feelings. I know it hurts that he didn’t tell you that he was talking to someone and I’m going to fucking kill him for how he went about it, but when you really think about it, Bella, he’s finally opening up. He’s finally doing what we all asked him to do. Yes, he’s not talking to you about it and it sucks the way he’s been treating you when you’d ask him to go with you to therapy, but when you look at the whole picture, you’re not talking to him about Lizzie either. Actually I bet neither of you have spoken of her since her death.”

I sat there with tears in my eyes. What Alice said made sense but it didn’t help the fact that the way Edward went about it made it look like he was cheating. He smiled different with her than he did with me and I think that hurt the most.

The door bell rang and Alice shot up out of her chair to answer it while Rose and I looked at each other, completely confused.

EPOV

I walked into Emmett's living room and sat down on the couch. I threw my head back and closed my eyes, willing my headache to go away. Today had been filled with all kinds of fuckery. I had been asked about my actions several times today by several different people. As I opened my eyes and saw Emmett and Jasper staring back at me, I suddenly felt that it was only the beginning.

"Hey guys. What's up?" I asked them, leaning forward with my elbows on my knees.

"I don't know man," Emmett said, "why don't you tell me why you called last night looking for a place to stay?" I knew this conversation was coming. I had purposely gone straight to bed last night to avoid it.

"Bella kicked me out. I needed somewhere to sleep, other than my car." I knew that explanation wasn't going to hold them off for long.

"Well, that much we know, jackass," Jasper said, "why don't you tell us why she kicked you out." I sighed loudly and leaned back on the couch and prepared to spill my guts.

I went through the whole Tanya thing. I told them how we met, how often we talked, how she helped me out. And most importantly, how I kept it all from Bella.

"Let me get this straight," Emmett began, "you have been meeting with this Tanya person, having coffee, talking with her. But you have been talking about Lizzie? Yet you tell us, your own family, that you don't need to talk to anyone?" He looked at me, raising his eyebrows in question.

"Yeah, but when I first began talking to her, I had no idea she was a trained grief counselor. It just felt good to talk to someone."

"You are a complete fucking idiot," Jasper mumbled, shaking his head. I looked up at him, wide eyed.

"What the fuck is that supposed to mean Jasper? I know I should’ve told Bella I was talking to a counselor, but I just couldn't. And now she comes up with this whole thing about emotional affairs and shit. I am not having an affair with her. We are just friends," I told him. I was getting a little tired of having to explain myself for what was probably the fiftieth time today.

"Edward, you might have just seen this as meeting a counselor or friend for coffee and talking, but did you ever stop to think about how this looked to everyone else?" Emmett asked me honestly.

"What do you mean Emm?” I asked him.

"Look Edward," Jasper began, "I am glad that you found someone, a counselor that you could talk to. But the way you went about meeting with her was completely unprofessional. What you guys shared over coffee and muffins should have been done in an office environment. To an outsider, this looks exactly like the beginnings of an affair. You have been staying late at the office, canceling dinner plans with your wife, and no telling what other things Bella has caught on to."

I leaned back onto the couch and let what Jasper and Emmett were telling me truly sink in. Is that what it looked like to all the people at the hospital? That I was having an affair with Tanya?

"Edward," Jasper said, looking me straight in the eyes, "an emotional affair is when a person shares their thoughts and feelings with someone other than their spouse. You find that you have more in common with the person and begin to feel emotionally attached to them. That is exactly what you have been doing with Tanya. You feel like you have a lot in common with her because she lost her son in a tragedy like you lost Lizzie. And I am not saying that you don't have anything in common with her. I just don't want you to get yourself in trouble, man. Because most emotional affairs continue until they become physical affairs."

"That is never going to happen Jasper," I told him, trying to get him to understand,” Tanya and I are just friends. She has helped me a lot these past couple of weeks."

"And I understand that Edward, I really do. But look at it from Bella's perspective. She seen it as you sharing your feelings with another woman, whether she is a counselor or not, because of the setting you chose to meet with her. And personally, I don't blame her one bit," Jasper said. Emmett nodded his head.

"Yeah, man. I don't blame her either. If I pulled the shit you pulled, Rose would have my balls. You guys just need to talk. Get everything out in the open," Emmett said, and Jasper nodded this time.

"Yeah, I guess you guys are right. I really do need to talk to Bella. Hopefully a day alone and time to think for herself will have helped her cool off a bit." I grabbed my coat from the couch and stood up.

"Um, yeah, about that Edward. Bella hasn't exactly been alone today," Emmett said, scratching the back of his head nervously.

"Alice and Rose both headed over there first thing this morning. They've been there all day," Jasper said, grinning widely at me.

I got in my car and headed home, preparing for the hell I was about to walk in to.

Shit. I was in major trouble.